All I've Ever Needed
by frozenmorningdew
Summary: AU: Zendaya meets the new boy in school. His name is Valentin Chmerkovskiy, he's from New York and from Zendaya's perspective, he's absolutely insufferable.
1. Chapter 1

**May 19, 2015**

I'm not really into flashbacks and reminiscing. I like living life in the moment. Life doesn't offer regrets, only lessons and that's how I've lived my life. My very short life. But you know what, I'll make an exception for you. I mean, there's a reason why you're here. You want to know me. You want to know about me. You're interested in my life, although I can't really understand why. It's always been pretty mundane. Well, It was before I met **him**. Let me tell you a bit about myself before you start snooping around in my memories. I am Zendaya Coleman. I'm a senior at the Palisades High School in Los Angeles. Yeah, I live in L.A. Lucky me right?

I'm a good student. I have a keen interest in social studies and English but my true passion has always been in the visual and performing arts. Drama, music, you name it. I was never that much of a dancer, unless you count hip-hop. Which most people don't. I'm getting a bit ahead of myself here.

I've never been the most popular student in school but I've always worked well with what I've been given. I'm stubborn, ambitious, cautious, dependable. A true friend to those who take the time to get to know me. Am I describing myself in a way that is appealing to you? Would you like to know more? The good and the bad, the beautiful and the ugly? I know why you want my story. And I'll start you off with the day I met **him**.

**September 20, 2013**

"That's not a solution for math. That's some sort of a spell by numbers."

"Very funny Spencer. Excuse me while I choke on your wit."

"Hey! You asked me to tutor you. And I graciously said yes. It's not my fault that you **suck. so. bad**."

"I have dyscalculia."

_She saw Spencer looking at her like he would a two-headed dog._

"It's a real thing. It's like dyslexia but with numbers… Stop looking at me like that!"

_She cracked a smile as he started grinning. That picture perfect movie star grin of his. Spencer had been one of the first to befriend her when she was a freshman. She had, of course, immediately signed up for the drama club and Spencer was one of the stars. He was tall, extremely handsome, smart and popular. Still, her_ _association with him didn't rub off. She didn't become popular just by being his friend. She didn't become popular at all. And she liked it that way. She had her circle of friends; Dom, Deja and Trevor. They all shared the same interests. She liked having a_ _small but trustworthy group of friends._

_She saw Spencer's fingers moving inches way from her face. She had zoned out. Again._

"You're not gonna do that in your audition, are you? I didn't spend valuable time training you only for you to go down in a blaze of glory."

"I'm not a seal, you didn't train me. You helped me realize my potential. And stop squeezing Bon Jovi song titles into every conversation."

"Never! It's my life. Have a little faith in me."

"Oh my god stooooooop."

"Jon is the ultimate artist. A singer, songwriter, actor."

"That hair though."

"Don't diss the mullet."

"How is it that you're as popular as you are?"

"It's a mystery isn't it? I've gotta go. I'm gonna go outside and lay down in a bed of roses."

"Dork."

"See ya Deer."

_He winked at her and walked through the door of the classroom they had occupied themselves in. Watching him walking away pinched at her heart. They didn't get a lot of moments together, where it was just the two of them. Someone always surrounded him. Friends, admirers, you name it._

_She knew it was highly illogical to have a crush on one of her friends, especially an older, popular, way out of her league friend who had every girl, and lets face it, some of the faculty, throwing themselves at him. But she couldn't help it. He just had that __something-something__. That "je ne sais quoi."_

_Zendaya had never had a crush before and for years she thought something was wrong with her. But this had been instantaneous.  
>He had been the first person to say hi to her when she walked into the drama club, looking like a deer caught in headlights.<br>That's what he called her. Deer. In her head it was dear but the way he said it, like she was this cute, little & irritable thing, made her realize that it was just deer. A funny and cute nickname filled with brotherly affection. She just hoped that these feelings would subside and if they wouldn't … Well, this was his last year at the school. He'd be gone soon and then she wouldn't have to see him everyday._

_The bell rang and Zendaya grabbed her things, making her way to one of her favorite elective classes, psychology. As she walked into the classroom, she noticed that her usual seat had been moved to make way for a table and a chair. A new student?_

"Take your seats everyone, we have an exciting lesson today: Sigmund Freud vs. Carl Jung, the master and the pupil."

_The groans around the room could probably be heard around the whole school._

"Now, before we start I wanna ask Valentin Chmerkovskiy… Valentin? Where did he go?"

_Zendaya looked at the door just as a boy walked through. A boy? He looked like a man. He was wearing a white t-shirt with a photo of a girl on it. It looked quite retro. He had on blue pants. On his head was a beanie that the teacher immediately told him to take off. When he did she saw that his hair was gelled to infinity. He had a bit of a beard, which was a rarity for the boys in the school. As she stared at his face she suddenly caught his eyes. Green like emeralds. And now those same eyes were staring right into hers, like they were staring through her skin straight into her soul. This boy was a contradiction. Hipster from the neck down, pretty boy from the neck up, with eyes that exposed more than he probably wanted._

"Valentin is a …"

"Val."

"Right. Val is a new student. He's a senior and is transferring here from …"

_The teacher frantically looked through the papers in her hand trying to find the answer._

"New York. I'm from New York."

"Yes. Of course. Do you have anything you would like to say to your new friends?"

_Zendaya could see Val struggling not to roll his eyes._

"I'm good."

"Alright. Not much of a talker I see. That doesn't matter. Our class is all about the mind. Take a seat, we put one right next to Zendaya. Raise you hand Zendaya."

_She raised her hand without even thinking and felt a little embarrassed when she saw him looking at her with a bored expression. He sat down next to her and she noticed that he didn't have a notebook or any sort of stationery._

"You're gonna need this. For notes."

_She handed him a piece of paper and a pencil. He looked at her for a moment and then grabbed the things from her._

"I'm not much of a note kind of guy though."

"Well, this is definitely a note kind of class so you better change your way of learning. And normally people say thanks when given any kind if help."

"I never need any help."

_He smirked at her and she felt her cheeks heating up. He was insufferable, she could already tell that this was going to be a long semester._

"So, what kind of a class is this? I've already finished all of my core classes so I'm basically just doing electives. I just put a cross next to a bunch of shit so I don't really know what I'm getting myself into."

"We're not supposed to talk during lectures."

_She saw him raise his eyebrows and opening his mouth before turning his attention to the person on his other side, a perky blonde cheerleader named Coral Brigitte._

"Am I going to be seated here for the rest of the semester?"

_She heard Coral giggle, probably batting her eyelashes while responding with a yes in a baby voice. How dreadful she was. She could hear the glee in his voice when he responded back_.

"Well, at least I don't have stale bread on both of my sides."

_Yes. This was going to be a long semester._


	2. Chapter 2

**September 30, 2013**

_Zendaya stared at the clock, impatiently waiting for the bigger hand to hit 12 so the bell would ring. She hadn't been able to concentrate during the whole class. It was mostly due to her anxiety. After school she would be auditioning for the part of Ariel Moore in the school's production of Footloose. The lead female part. She had never auditioned for a lead part before and for the past couple of days she had felt like her whole world was closing in on her. She wasn't shy and she didn't have stage fright. She had the utmost confidence in her ability. It was Spencer._

_Spencer was auditioning for the part of Ren. Spencer was a__shoe__-in for the part. There was no one else in the whole school that even came close to him. He had the voice, the dance ability, the acting chops. He was the whole package. And that was the problem. Zendaya didn't know if she was auditioning because of the experience it would give her, or because she wanted to act against him. A dilemma had formed in her mind. You see, Ariel was Ren's love interest. So there would be a lot of closeness, some kissing. Zendaya was 16 yet she had never kissed anyone before. And she wanted Spencer to be her first kiss but not while they were pretending to be somebody else. But when it came down to it, there was no one in this world that she wanted to get that part more than him. He was a star and everyone could see it._

_She was startled out of her thoughts by a girlish giggle. Ms. Koolen, the art teacher, was fawning over someone. Oh, that someone was Val. The boy from New York who seemed to pop up in whatever class Zendaya was in. Well, four of them. She didn't really understand what he was doing most of the time. He didn't seem to show any interest in anything regarding the subjects they were in. He never faltered though. Every time a teacher called him on he would just flash that smirk, disguised as a grin, and somehow charm himself out of every question, every situation that was presented to him. _

_He had an overpowering presence. It was like everyone who laid eyes on him became immediately mesmerized and everything else disappeared. She didn't see it though. She had spent the last 40 minutes desperately trying to get the right contrast of light and shadow on her drawing of a bowl of fruit while the rest of the class practically gasped in amazement over his drawing. It couldn't be that good. She wasn't going to look._

_She didn't understand this reaction she had whenever he was around. Or not even around. She had spent last weekend finding adjectives that could describe how unbearable she found him. She had stopped at 50 words. He vocabulary wasn't substantial enough to express her annoyance towards him. But why?_

_The bell finally rang and Zendaya hurriedly packed her belongings into her bag. As she walked into the corridor she felt a presence besides her. Just great._

"You disappear very fast, did you know that?"

"I'm a busy person with a lot to do. I don't have time to …"

"Stop and smell the roses?"

"Fawn over tedious things."

"Ouch. I guess you're going to that audition thing now. I thought that wasn't until 4:30."

_Zendaya stopped in her tracks and spun so that she was face to face with him._

"How did you know about my audition?"

"You were talking about it with your friend. The blonde, loud one."

"Were you listening to my private conversation?"

"No. Your loud friend was talking very loudly, very closely to me. She kept looking at me too. But that's normal. I've seen the selection of boys here. It's not a very L.A. looking crowd, is it?"

_Zendaya felt quite offended on the behalf of her classmates. _

"I'll have you know that there are many very handsome boys at this school."

_She scanned the corridor until she saw a boy called Derek._

"Like him for example."

_She nodded her head towards the blonde that looked like he belonged in a surf shop down in Santa Monica. Val looked at him and grimaced._

"He looks kind of waspy."

"Waspy?"

"Yeah, like a wasp. It's a fly."

"I hate flies."

_A small smile grazed Val's lips._

"Are we bonding right now? Because I really wasn't prepared for this very open conversation were having. Hostility is kind of your thing."

"It is not."

"Well, maybe our thing."

"We don't have anything."

_Val let out a little laugh and she saw his eyes twinkle._

"You don't let a lot of people near you."

"Excuse me?"

"You're very resistive. Withstanding. Hard to crack."

"I understand English."

"Well you should with that big ass thesaurus you carry around everywhere with you."

_Zendaya looked down at her arms, which were wrapped around said big ass book._

"It's essential to have a varied vocabulary."

"It makes you slouch."

_She looked at him with apprehension, not knowing if he was making fun of her or actually, and creepily, worrying about her posture._

"I have to go."

"Maybe I'll see you at the auditions. I need a good laugh."

_And with that Zendaya's cheeks started heating with anger. She turned on her feet and walked away, as quickly as she could. A minute longer in his presence would only make her blood boil over._

—

"Very good Spencer. You truly set the bar high for everyone. Keep up the good work."

_Zendaya beamed as Spencer got his praise. He walked off stage and winked at her while mouthing good luck. They had already done their scene reading and now only the song audition was left. _

"Who is next on stage? Aah Zendaya, we're ready for you."

_The director, Mrs. Hooper was a kind woman in her 50's with broken aspirations of directing high-profile films. Apparently Hollywood chews you up and spits you out if you're a woman who wants to direct._

"What will you be singing for us today?"

"I wanted to have that 80's feeling, since the play does take place in that time period. So I'm going to be singing "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" by Whitney Houston."

_She saw Mrs. Hooper smiling at her._

"As an 80's teen I applaud you for that song choice. Whenever you're ready."

_Zendaya nodded her head and the auditorium was filled with an up-tempo beat. She wanted to play a part so she swayed her hips and flipped her hair all while belting out a version that would have gotten a standing ovation by Whitney herself. _

"Brava! Zendaya, you have grown so much since the last time you were up here. I see great potential in you. I think you're going to be happy with my final decision regarding the casting."

_Zendaya smiled thankfully towards Mrs. Hooper. She looked over the auditorium. No Val in sight. This day did have potential after all._

"Now, seeing as Zendaya was the last audition I think I can safely say …"

_All of a sudden she stopped speaking and Zendaya saw how the assistant director was talking in a hushed tone with her._

"Well, well. It seems as though we have a late caller. Is there a Valentin Chmerkovskiy here?

_Suddenly Zendaya heard his voice._

"It's just Val."

_He walked from the back of the stage, where the curtains were drawn. _

"Well, just Val. I am ready to hear your audition. Do you have a monologue ready?"

"I do. I took a part of the play though so I need some assistance. Maybe Zendaya could help me? She is auditioning for the part of Ariel so that would fit perfectly."

_That evil, up to no good smirk was cemented on his face. _

"Of course she can. It's good practise. What part will you be reading?

"The part where Ren is trying to convince the Reverend that dance isn't all that bad."

"Then you need a Reverend. Spencer, would you do the honours?"

Spencer looked dumbfounded but managed to croak out a yes.

"Great. Start when you're ready."

_Spencer started the scene, looking quite uncomfortable with the whole thing. He stumbled a couple of times and Zendaya felt sorry for him. He wasn't used to not being in the spotlight._

_All of a sudden Val started. It was a transformation. Before her eyes stood someone who was passionate. Someone who believed every line that stood on that piece of paper. Someone who made her believe every line on that paper. Was this the same boy as the one in her classes? The one who had never shown any interest in anything besides talking through the whole class and making snide remarks about every topic._

_She faltered a bit when her part came on but quickly managed to pick herself up again. She saw how Val was itching closer to her. There's was a thumping in her chest, one that she couldn't understand. Why was he so close? Her breathing became a bit erratic. And then she stopped. There were no more lines. It was just her standing, clutching the script in her hand and him, standing right in front of her. _

_Zendaya snapped out of her daze and moved a couple of steps back. She looked at Spencer who had a confused look on his face. When she looked out into the auditorium she saw her fellow students whispering between themselves and Mrs. Hooper peering her eyes at the two of them._

"Interesting" _was the only reaction Mrs. Hooper gave. _

"I have made my decision. Being a director is all about taking chances. Val, you are able to sing, aren't you?"

"I wouldn't be here if couldn't."

"Yes… Yes… Very well, Zendaya, congratulations you are Ariel!"

_Zendaya let out a shriek and ran into Spencer's arms. She was beyond elated, this was everything she had ever wanted._

"I feel this in my bones and that is the reason I'm doing this. Val, congratulations.**You are Ren.**"

_And with those 3 words, Zendaya's dreams shattered around her. _


End file.
